Tuesday, November 8, 2016, started out as a great day. At 6:45 AM, I eagerly jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, and put on my “Hillary: Smashing the Glass Ceiling 2016” t-shirt and Rosie the Riveter socks. Once I got to school, I was too excited to focus in any of my classes. During lunch, I took some cute pictures with my friend who was also sporting Hillary apparel, and confidently voted in my school’s mock election (Hillary won with 73%).

Friends, let me take you back to a dark time in our nation’s history. The time is late July 2016. After four days of insanity at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the country is settling down to watch the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Despite the cries of “lock her up,” many people are genuinely excited about officially declaring Hillary Clinton our first female nominee for president.

After an almost 19-month-long presidential election, we all got a little “sick and tired of hearing about Hillary’s damn emails” (to quote Bernie Sanders). At least, I know I got pretty tired of hearing about them. The election is over now, but the “scandal” stuck around till the very last days before Election Day, the media never ceasing to mention it in every clickbait-y headline.

My name is Elena, and I am 12 years old. I currently live in California, and am in the seventh grade. I have been a tremendous fan of yours since 2008 when you ran against President Obama in the Primary Election. My parents would gather the family, (then just my Mother, Father and I) and sit in front of a very old antenna TV to watch the Democratic debates and convention. I’d like to think that I, only 4 years old at the time, would speak with them intelligently about the political issues being addressed among the candidates, but it was not so.

Editor’s Note: The election is over now, but I’d like to highlight another two super-inspirational young people who did so much for Hillary. Although not technically “teens” yet, 12-year-old friends Elena and Paulina worked incredibly hard on Hillary’s campaign in Reno, Nevada. While on the campaign trail, Elena and Paulina kept up a blog, where the two regularly wrote cheery and optimistic posts. I’m so proud of Elena, Paulina, and all other teens and young people who worked tirelessly on Hillary’s behalf. I can't wait till we all can vote!

I have to admit that it’s extremely hard for me to write this. The past 24 hours have been a roller coaster of emotions, and I don’t quite know how to articulate what I'm feeling.

At this point, I think it’s pretty clear that I love, love, love Hillary Clinton. The past 18 months of my life have been thoroughly Hillary-themed. Every article, essay, or paper that I’ve written for school has been about her. She has been at the center of my conversations with friends and family. She literally has found her way into my assignments for even art class. Hillary is my inspiration and my role model. I’ve never looked up to a public figure as much as I look up to her.

1. “Hillary is so artificial / robotic.” Meaning, she actually has well thought-out policies backed by facts, rather than nonsensical sound-bites. For example, Trump’s only proposal on immigration is to build a “great, great wall” that he insanely thinks Mexico will pay for. On the other hand, Hillary has detailed plans for immigration reform and improving the pathway to citizenship.

Four days: that’s all the time we have before this roller-coaster of a campaign comes to an end. Whoever becomes president will face an immense challenge in uniting the country, and I wish the victor the best of the luck in that endeavor. Our divided nation is in serious need of healing—I think everyone can agree on that. Yet, obviously, I have my preferences for which candidate I want to win. That candidate is, with 100% certainty, Hillary Clinton. Let me explain why—not using any attacks on her opponent, just stating the positive case for her.

This election, as everyone knows, is crazy. The Republican primary defied all expectations--a certain real estate dealer became the Republican nominee for president, despite his mimicry of a second-grade bully. Except, of course, second graders do not speak about sexually assaulting women. It's surprising not only to scholars, political theorists, and pundits, but also to students, parents, and Americans.

Let’s see if I’ve got this right–the locker room is a magical safe space where men can boast about their sexual prowess and conquests. Maybe after you’ve asserted your masculinity with some athletic activity it’s only natural for you to breeze into conversation about trying to sleep with married women, since you can only see their legs and boobs anyway. And you’re famous! So groping them without their consent feels familiar to your hands. It doesn’t matter, anyway. It doesn’t count, what you said. It was locker room talk.